Hygiene Program

Current Hygiene.Updated 19/11/2015.The fact is originally there was no hygiene in the facility. The children always looked personally clean, they bathed frequently and their hair was always clean and shiny. But underneath their living conditions were and still are quite filthy - though very much improved. The children understand the importance of personal hygiene but in terms of the facilities, the food preparation and serving conditions, rubbish collection etc were extremely un-hygenic and plain filthy and with no supervision they had no role model and just didn't know what to do, nor had they any tools to assist in this - particularly with very little water.

They now have a permanent water supply 24/7, sinks and plentiful taps in the kitchen which we supplied and we expect that the hygiene will continue to improve in this next school year particularly with our support with brooms, buckets, rags, detergent etc to be supplied each fortnight. Much of the children's knowledge of hygiene has come from mountain villages where everything is done in the river. Teachers also have no knowledge of hygiene and just tell the kids to keep the place clean but offer no advice or assistance. We have utilised team leaders of the childrens rostered team to take responsibility and ensure that equipment remains with the kitchen. So far this is working. The children are keen to ensure that cleanliness remains. Our job is to keep encouraging, training and providing enough supplies in order for the kids to do the job but not enough as to be taken by others for their own use.

Floors are still very rough concrete making the floors almost impossible to clean, but the one low tap and small hose to the kitchen has now been replaced with at least 3 taps, sinks and benches. The changes that on going water has made to the hygiene will continue. The rice is still cooked in rusted 44 gallon drums with old rags inside to stop the drums leaking.

All food is cooked on open fires in drums and with new pots provided by GSA instead of the old and buckled pots with holes. These open fires in the kitchen add more dust, smoke and grime to the facilities but this is future project. They now have washing up facilities to wash dishes which were previously just left and refilled dirty. Food preparation area is now clean with tiled benches but old habits of preparing food on dirty boards on the floor is hard to break for the village kids.

All children now have working toilets with plenty of water for bathing, washing etc but we are yet to put in a toilet hygiene process (starting next week) to teach the kids how to use the toilets properly and find a way to teach the children to use the rubbish bins on a daily basis and not wait until everything is filthy and do a major clean up.

We have prepared signs for the kitchen explaining the danger of flies, food poisoning and lack of hygiene in toilets so hopefully when we do the training they will at least have some new knowledge to base the training on.

The dormitories are dark, dinghy and overcrowded not conducive to study or good health. Ceilings are falling down, and the walls are extremely dirty. The floors are all rough concrete which are impossible to keep clean and therefore are always filthy. Hopefully the access to water will improve the situation and allow us to clean out the dormitories and repaint which they badly need. We expect our volunteers to assist not only in doing the cleaning and painting but in training the kids to continue the process.

The children would like better. Updated 19/11/2015. The children used to hate the kitchen conditions and prefer often to make their own food behind the dining room. The toilets have been a disgrace and water supply was extremely inadequate at best. Children were forced to do their toilet in the areas behind the dormitories in the grass. Of course this added to the un-hygenic conditions.

The laundry is completed by hand in buckets and hung out over bamboo poles which is fairly standard in Laos and now works quite well with the plentiful water supply which has been installed by GSA.. The children are fussy with their clothes and their shoes and they look after their possessions as little as they have. The shoes get washed as often as the clothes. The children look extremely clean all of the time and particularly when they go to school - so now with water this task has been made easier.

Don't forget this is not temporary camping this is the permanent condition for 600 plus children, hot or cold, wet or dry and with facilities constantly breaking down or turned off and with having to search for adequate food.

What we have done so far?Updated 19/11/2015. Global Support Association Inc have made huge progress in the area of Hygiene as we have the full support of the Directors who are now happy for us to implement procedures to improve conditions. Previously, there were no washing up procedures and non was done, the food was cooked too early and sat on tables on dirty plates for 3 - 5 hours on cracked plates and filthy trays before being eaten. However, we have made a start and we have improved the kitchen and dining areas and have now provided water 24/7 so we can be more demanding. Washing up is done after every meal, rubbish is removed, floors swept and tiled benches and table are left sparkling.

We are encouraging the children to sweep up the dormitories and get rid of the rubbish. The volunteers took it upon themselves to start the process to clean up the grime. We all armed ourselves with gloves, brushes, detergent and cloths and a tiny hose so that we could at least get water into the kitchen and dining rooms and lead by example. Very few of the children had seen a scrubbing brush before or had used hot water with detergent. We cleaned every plate, tray, and cover we could find and also cleaned the tables. What a difference. Soon the children joined in to help. We started with the boys dining room and came back the following week to do the girls dining room. While it still looks grotty at least the children now know that they can make a difference. and have an example to follow.

We are making a difference but there is still a huge amount to do in terms of Hygiene.Animals in our zoos in Australia live in cleaner conditions than these children have.

What are we doing?Updated 19/11/2015. The Kitchen and dining room while now very much improved are still in need of more hygiene processes to keep increasing standards over time. This has been difficult without school supervision but the children are receptive and are keen to learn. One of GSA's first area of improvement when we returned in October 2015 was to establish hygiene processes and these have now commenced after discussion and approval by the School Director.

This is possible now through improved kitchen and dining area facilities and we have 24/7 free and plentiful water. A volunteer is now with the children daily as 17 children are rostered each day to clean the area. We are encouraging the children to keep the new facilities clean. These areas were previously impossible to keep clean and now we have established a broom, detergent, rags and soap regime so that the children receive much needed supplies fortnightly. This is done by using senior students team leaders to take responsibility for equipment and passing on information to the next roster.

The children do the cleaning themselves and now with processes, routines, rosters and cleaning aids we are making good progress in spite of the teachers who are reluctant to change processes. Working with the children is relatively easy but changing old ways is a major hurdle. They think that detergent will contaminate the food but are quite prepared to let swarms of flies hover over food scraps. But they will learn - we are determined.

Further volunteers who will be arriving over the next few weeks, will also carry out some necessary repairs and maintenance to the kitchen. Our gurney will be well used by the volunteers to try to lift the dirt on the floors to kitchen and dining. We will also repaint some of the walls in the actual cooking area.

Donations to the Hygiene Project for now will go towards replacing rice baskets, replacing broken and chipped crockery and missing utensils - providing funds for the kitchen improvement - replacing old broken pots and pans, providing brooms, detergent, cloths, sponges etc to maintain the cleanliness that has been started. We have organized for a regular supply to be delivered to the facility each fortnight even when we are not on site - so this will maintain the momentum.